Scarlet Robin

I’m not sure why it has taken so long for me to post about this enchanting bird on this site. The Scarlet Robin gets a mention a couple of times in posts on a sister site – The Friends of Drouin’s Trees – mainly in relation to the conservation of habitat.

Scarlet Robin male - Grantville NCR

Many people include the ‘robin redbreast’ as one of their favourite birds. They probably mean the Scarlet Robin, but we do have several red-breasted robins in Australia. The most common robin redbreast in this district is more likely to be the Flame Robin an equally enchanting but different species. This post is prompted by a recent sighting of a pair of Scarlet Robins at The Gurdies NCR in Grantville.

Scarlet Robin - Grantville NCR

The Scarlet Robin, Petroica boodang, (‘petroica’ means rock-dweller – go figure, and ‘boodang’ is a native name for the bird) is listed as ‘vulnerable’ in NSW but considered secure in Victoria, despite there seeming to be ample anecdotal evidence of significant declines in its populations in this state.

Scarlet Robin male - enchanting and often obliging

Scarlet Robins tend to inhabit drier woodlands and forests with plenty of litter and fallen logs on the ground.

Scarlet Robin female - more subtle, just as endearing

In some localities, the Scarlet Robin seems to be sedentary, and always present from season to season. Mostly though, in this district, the birds disperse to the foothills or higher country for breeding and return, faithfully to their territories, in the lower regions in winter.

Left: Scarlet Robin – black and white upperparts, scarlet chest and belly, BLACK chin. Right: Flame Robin – dark-grey and white upperparts, flame red chest, belly AND chin.

 The Scarlet Robin is usually seen in pairs and not family groups. However pairs will often mix with other small insectivorous species when foraging, using their perch-and-pounce technique.

 

 

Yellow Thornbill

I try not to repeat posts on particular species but a recent encounter with a favourite bird has encouraged me to write again about the Yellow Thornbill. The earlier post was in September 2022.

The Yellow Thornbill, Acanthiza nana (Acanthiza = thorn-bush dweller and nana = diminutive) is certainly diminutive, measuring overall less than 10cm, and once known as the Little Thornbill, but it does not particularly inhabit thorn-bushes. Yellow Thornbills are nearly always found in acacia, casuarina and melaleuca woodlands in preference to eucalypt forest.

It is a sedentary species and anecdotally appears to be very loyal to its territory – the bird is often found in the same patch of woodland, season after season.

Yellow Thornbills are insect-eaters. They glean their prey from the foliage and bark generally in the canopy. They appear to remain strictly arboreal.

The Yellow Thornbill is the most yellow of the thornbills and the sexes are similar. It can often be easily confused with the Striated Thornbill and in some places, the Buff-rumped Thornbill. For a little bird, it has a harsh, clipped two-note call described as 'tid-id', or perhaps 'tiz-tiz' often repeated.

The Yellow Thornbill is an Australian endemic and is found in suitable habitat down the eastern seaboard from Cape York Peninsula to about Adelaide. Although not listed as threatened, many references suggest its numbers are in decline – dramatic loss of insect populations due to climate change, bushfires, insecticides…? 

 

Little Black Cormorant

The green iris is diagnostic. White flecks on the head indicate breeding plumage.

The Little Black Cormorant, Phalacrocorax sulcirostris  (Phalacrocorax = bald raven and sulcirostris = furrowed bill) is mostly found on inland lakes, dams, and rivers, but also is seen on quiet marine estuaries. It is more gregarious than the other two species of cormorants we normally see in this district – the Little Pied Cormorant and the Great Cormorant – and is often seen in small groups.

Little Black Cormorants feed mostly on fish species and will take other aquatic animals also. They have fully webbed feet, and are excellent divers and underwater swimmers.

Little Black Cormorants are nearly all black. The sexes are similar

When flying between water bodies, they often fly in line formations. They have also been observed ‘fishing’ in cooperative raft configurations – herding their prey for easier pickings.

Like our other cormorants, little blacks spend a lot of time ‘drying out’ by perching on a convenient branch, log, fence post, etc., with their wings spread wide.

Oddly, cormorants do not have waterproof plumage, and between feeding forays must dry their feathers

McNeilly Park wetland, Alex Goudie Park, Bellbird Park wetland and similar locations around Drouin are good places to tick this ‘bald raven with a furrowed bill’.

Yellow-faced Honeyeater

This relatively unspectacular and fairly common bird is perhaps too readily taken for granted. The Yellow-faced Honeyeater has an extensive Wikipedia entry with plenty of illuminating facts – “Over 100,000 birds were recorded passing Hastings Point in New South Wales over the course of a single day in May 1965”.

Like most honeyeater species, our ‘Gippsland’ Yellow-faced Honeyeaters come and go a bit as they chase the flowering patterns of many of their favourite native trees and shrubs. There seems to be a bird or two around almost all of the year. Also, like many honeyeaters, nectar is not their only dietary item: pollen, seeds, fruit and insects are commonly eaten. When in flower, the extensive colonies of mistletoe in woodlands in this district will often have Yellow-faced Honeyeaters in attendance.

While a yellow stripe below the eye hardly represents a ‘yellow face’, it is perhaps the defining visual characteristic of this bird. The frequent and cheery call, particularly early in the day, is another diagnostic tool used by bird watchers.

From its scientific name, Caligavis chrysops, the Yellow-faced Honeyeater should be called the Obscure Yellow-eyed Honeyeater: Caligavis = mist or fog (everything written about the bird is obscure!), and chrysops = golden eye.

 

 

Graeff’s Leaf-curling Spider

Most leaf curlers are orb-weaving spiders that use a curled leaf for shelter. Some species position their curled leaf in a shrub close by their web. After spinning its orb web, Phonognatha graeffei hauls up a leaf, positions it near the centre of its web, curls it up, and binds it shut with silk.

Curled leaf positioned in the centre of a web - Bunyip State Park

The spider waits inside the leaf with its feet attached to some strands of its web, waiting for the tell-tale vibrations of a trapped insect. It uses venom to help subdue its prey before consuming it.

Close up of the feet attached to the web - Drouin garden

Some female leaf curlers will lay their eggs inside a separate curled leaf positioned in a bush nearby.

Phonognatha graeffei sans leaf - Golden Whistler Reserve Drouin

Most members of the genus are endemic to Australia. They can often be found in home gardens where they are an asset, keeping some pest insects under control. And, the spider itself is part of the food web of other animals. Leaf curlers in the garden, particularly appreciate minimal use of pesticide sprays – for obvious reasons.

 

Puffballs

Puffball fungi are a class of fungi that do not have a ‘mushroom’-shaped cap with gills or pores, or stems. Puffball fruiting bodies are generally spherical or pear-shaped. Their spores are formed and contained within the body of the fruit. As the fruit matures, the ‘puffball’ either splits open to expose the spores, or a small vent is formed in the top of the ‘ball’ through which the spores are expelled when the fruit is nudged by an animal, or a raindrop, etc. (YouTube video link).

 Collared Earthstar - Earthstars are fairly common in our native forest reserves where they grow in the leaf litter on the ground.

Earthstar Puffball - Rokeby Rail Trail

As the fruit develops, the outer skin hardens and when conditions are right, splits radially into a star pattern. This can take just a few minutes to happen, or as long as 3-4 hours.

 Pear-shaped Puffball - Shaped like an inverted pear, these puffballs grow on dead wood, old stumps, etc.

Pear-shaped Puffball - Nangara Reserve Jindivick

Pear-shaped Puffballs: Lycoperdon pyriforme – lyco = wolf, perdon = flatulence/pardon (I’ll let your imaginations work that out – refer to the video link above for a clue – a mycologist with a sense of humour?) and pyriforme = pear-shaped.

 Horse Dung Fungus - Pisolithus arhizus while not a ‘puff’ball in the true sense of the word, they are an ally in the sense that their spores are manufactured and stored inside the rounded body of the fruit. They are often found growing in hard gravel surfaces on the sides of roads and tracks.

Horse Dung Fungus - Golden Whistler Reserve Drouin

As the fruit matures, the outer layers begin to disintegrate and the top spores are exposed to the atmosphere, ready for distribution by wind, rain, or animals.

So much to learn!

  

Stinkhorns

Stinkhorns are a bizarre group of fungi that have strong, unpleasant odours. They produce a spore mass that smell of rotting flesh or sewage to attract flies and other insects. The flies feed on the spore mass and so act as a vector for the spread of the fungus.

The Anemone Stinkhorn, Aseroe rubra, is normally found in alpine grassland or woodland habitat or other places in rich soils. This one was in some woodchip mulch in a garden bed outside the Drouin Library (thanks Yola).

The foul-smelling spore mass is the dark material on top of the disc.

The Anemone Stinkhorn can grow to a height of 100mm with the divided arms radiating to 30-40mm. Locally they can be quite common yet seem to be restricted to the south-east corner of the continent.

 Phallus rubicundus, another member of the Stinkhorn family, has a spore mass that can vary in colour.

These odd shapes are the mature body of the fungus. They start out as gelatinous egg-shaped forms attached to the mycelium within the substrate.